Vietnam's central region takes biofuel lead

Da Nang, October 15 (VNA) – Vietnam's National Oil and Gas Group (Petro Vietnam) has opened three biofuel plants with total capacity of 300 million litres per year in order to meet increasing demand for green energy. The Dung Quat plant alone provides the central region with 1.5 million tonnes of E5 per year, Deputy General Director of Petro Vietnam Nguyen Sinh Khang said at a conference in Da Nang city late last week. "We are making sure that biofuel is always available at stations and costs the same as RON 92. We have sold 106,000 cubic metres of E5 since 2010," Khang said. Da Nang, Quang Ngai and Quang Nam were leading the way when it came to promoting biofuel due to their efforts to raise awareness about environmental protection, he said. Nguyen Van Hoi, Deputy General Director of Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company (BSR), said the company had supported its fuel agents with 350 VND per litre of E5. "BSR has produced over 10.06 million litres of E5 RON 92, of which over 10 million litres were sold in the country," Hoi said. "We are supporting agents to prepare for the mass launching of biofuel sales." The central city of Da Nang will completely replace RON 92 with E5 at its 118 retail filling stations next month, while Quang Ngai plans to stop selling Mogas 92 by the end of 2014. Binh Son Refining and Petrochemical Company said the company would provide 24,000 cubic metres of E5 for Da Nang, Quang Nam and Quang Ngai in October and November. Last week, the Vietnam National Petroleum Group (Petrolimex) announced that E5 RON 92 was priced between 25,310 VND (1.2 USD) and 25,810 VND (1.22 USD) per litre in Quang Ngai province.-VNA